This HEXUS review sees the ASUSTeK A8R32-MVP Deluxe Mainboard rightfully awarded the coveted HEXUS.eXtreme Recommended award. However, if we had published our evaluation when ATi Technologies launched its RADEON XPRESS 3200 (RD580) core logic, on March 1, then we'd have written a very different story.

On that date, HEXUS would only have been able to conclude that, while ATi’s new chipset certainly promised a lot, the reality was that the sole production RADEON XPRESS 3200 based mainboard available to you, the HEXUS reader, was simply not fit for sale - despite what both ATi and ASUSTeK claimed. We'd also have had to say that the ATi RADEON XPRESS 3200 core logic was effectively yet another 'paper launch’.

The reason we were unable to publish back on March 1 was because the A8R32-MVP Deluxe would not correctly and reliably complete the most basic elements of the HEXUS Labs test suite even after something like a month of dedicated testing.

And remember, this was the a mainboard that had passed ATi certification and was then chosen as the launch vehicle for ATi's new RADEON XPRESS 3200 core logic chipset.